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Residential Schools: The Aboriginal Cultural Genocide

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Residential Schools: The Aboriginal Cultural Genocide

Culminating Research Essay
Grade 10 History
Annika Nerling

07/23/2015

Canada is known for being one of the most multicultural and diversely supportive countries in the world; but many Aboriginal people would argue that Canada was not always as “caring and free” as it is today. From 1870 until 1996, Canada’s government supported the use of residential schools throughout the country (MacDonald, 426). Residential schools were boarding schools that Aboriginal children were forced to go to by the Canadian government, so that they would assimilate the Aboriginal children into the same religion and culture as the European settlers in Canada. During their time in residential schools, …show more content…

When originally the Aboriginal students left the residential schools, they did not want to identify as First Nations, Metis, or Inuit, because of the negative meanings connected with those cultures. It was difficult for people who still identified as Aboriginal to get jobs, an education, and make friends in the Canada. At this time, Canada’s federal government was shaping their political and social structure to make life more difficult for Aboriginal people – less job opportunities, a hard time getting an education, and almost no legal rights (Bombay, 320-338). The emotional things that these schools had on students frequently led them to commit suicide due to the depression they faced of being lost and unwelcomed in a new …show more content…

Fournier, Suzanne. “Stolen from Our Embrace: The Abduction of First Nations Children and the Restoration of Aboriginal Communities”. Douglas & McIntyre Ltd. 16-56.

Grant, Agnes. No End of Grief: Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Pemmican Publications, Inc., 1635 Burrows Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R2X 0T1, 1996.

Laing, Melanie. "An Analysis of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Undergraduate Transitional Justice Review 4.1 (2013): 5.

MacDonald, David B., and Graham Hudson. "The genocide question and Indian residential schools in Canada." Canadian Journal of Political Science 45.02 (2012): 421-449

Nagy, Rosemary,. "Introduction: Residential Schools and Decolonization." Canadian journal of law and society 27.01 (2012):

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